Striking plate



Dec. 26, 1922. 1,440,313,

K. F. NYSTROM.

STRIKING PLATE.

FILED HIS-26,1921.

" an integral part a carry iron.

Patented at. as, rear.

means KARL F. NYSTROT/I, 0F MONTREAL, QUEBEG, CANADA.

STRIKING PLATE.

Application fiIed February 26, 1921. Serial No. 448,282.

To (ZZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, KARL F. NYSTROM, a subject of the King of GreatBritain, and resident of the city of Montreal, in the Province of Quebecand Dominion of Can ad: have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Striking Plates. of which the following is a full,clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to improvements in the construction of strikingplates for railway cars, and particularly to striking plates combiningcoupler centering devices, and the principal object of the invention isto provide a strong and simple striking plate.

A further object is to provide a strikingplate including a couplercentering means. I A still further object is'the provision of means tosupport a coupler if the centering device becomes broken or inoperative.

At the present time, striking plates and carry irons are as a rule madeseparate and connected together by bolts. In such constructions, it isnot uncommon for the carry iron which is secured under the strikingplate to drop off and allow the coupler to drop. Looseness of bolts orother reasons frequently cause the striking plate, which is an invertedsubstantially U-shaped member to fracture owing to lack of propersup-port ing connection between the extremities of the depending arms.

According to the present invention, a striking plate is provided whichincludes as The coupler is thus ensured of support at. all times and thestriking plate greatly strengthened. Any suitable form of centeringdevice may be mounted between the carry iron and the coupler. Provisionis made for supporting a coupler independently ofa centering device inthe event that the centering device should fail.

Tn the drawings which illustrate the invention- Fig. 1 is a frontelevation of the device.

Fig. 2 is a view partly in plan and partly in section on the line 22,Figure 1.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view on the line 3-8, Figure 1.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view illustrating the supporting of acoupler independently of the carry iron.

Referring more particularly tothe draw ings, 11 design-ates the frontwall of a striking plate and 12 the back wall, the latter projecting atthe sides beyond the front wall. The front and back walls. are connectedby side walls 13 and a. top wall 14 and also by a bottom wall 15. Thefront and back walls are provided with a substantially rectangularaperture 16, through which the shank 17 of a coupler may pass, theaperture of the front wall being somewhat-smaller in the lateraldirection than the aperture of the back wall. The top wall projects rearwardly of the back wall and serves to form brackets or braces bet-weenthe side and back walls. The side and back walls are further supportedand connected by bracket ribs 18.

The lower part of the front and back walls and the bottom wall 15 formbetween them a carry iron integral withv the remainder of the strikingplate. The lower or carrier part of the plate is not intended towithstand the shock of coupling cars and is therefore set back from theupper part of the front wall, which is thickened as shown at 19 and isfurther supported by horizontally and vertically disposed ribs 20. Aspreviously stated, the opening in the back wall is larger in thelongitudinal direction than the opening in the front wall and, in fact,the opening extends from side wall to side wall to permit the attachmentof the side walls to the forward end of a draft arm 21. Lugs 22 areprovided in rear of the back wall for attachment to the draft arm andare sub-' stantially continuations of the side walls, as clearly seen inFigure 2. The side walls are provided at any suitable distance from thenlower ends with apertures 23, the apertures on opposite sides of thedevice being 1n alignment.

The bottom wall '15 is designed to serve as the trackwa-y of a gravitycentering device for the coupler and, for this purpose, is provided withone or more portions 2% curved transversely of the device. Drainageopenings 25 may be provided in either of or both of the back and frontwalls. A carriage 26 is. located under the coupler and is provided withupstanding ribs 27 at its ends between which the coupler fits and whichcompel the carriage to move transversely with the swing of the coupler.The lower I riage.

surface of the carriage is provided with curved tracks 28 correspondingwith the tracks 24: but inverted relatively thereto. Rollers 29 aredisposed between the tracks 24 and 28 and form a. supporting connectionbetween the carriage and the bottom wall 15. By the action of gravity,these rollers seek the lowest points of the tracks 24 and the highestpoints of the tracks 28, with the result that the carriage tends alwaysto assume a predetermined position with relation to the striking plate,in which position the coupler is centered, as is well known. Thecarriage 26 may be provided on its lower surface with a transversegroove 30 adapted to receive a bolt 31 passing through the apertures 23and connecting the side walls 13. Such a bolt would be inserted only inthe event of a breakage of the bottom wall 15 or collapse of 'one ormore of the rollers 29 or even a breakage of the car- The bolt wheninserted will form a rigid connection between the side walls, to supportthe same against breakage by excess lateral'movement of the coupler andalso to serve as an emergency carry iron for the coupler. As previouslystated. the holes 23 may be located at any suitable elevation, that isto say, they may be located as in Figure 4 to position a bolt 31 underthe carriage 30 or may be located somewhat higher up, as shown inFigure 1. so as to position a bolt immediately under the coupler, sothat the coupler may be supported in proper position without eithercarriage or rollers. If the dimensions of the striking plate permit, theside walls may be pro vided with two sets of apertures at differentlevels.

The operation of the device is obvious from the foregoing descriptionand the drawings and requires no description.

The advantages may be briefly outlined as follows:

The formation of the striking plate and carry iron as an integral wholegreatly strengthens the striking plate and simplifies and cheapens themanufacture by reducing the number of parts. The integral constructionfurthermore ensures suitable support for the coupler except in the eventof breakage. The provision of the emergency bolt holes provides for theinsertion of a bolt to replace a broken carrier part both as regards itscarrying function and its function as a connection between the arms ofthe striking plate. This emergency provision also enables thedisadvantages and danger attendant on a broken centering .device .to

be easily and quickly repaired until the car so can be shopped.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is- 1. A device oftheclass described, comprising a striking plate and carry iron $5 formedintegral, said carry-iron having a pocket to receive a centering device,and an emergency carry iron insertable in said pocket on removal of thecentering device.

2. A device of the class described, comprising a striking plate havingdepending side members and a carry iron formed integral with said sidemembers, said carry --iron being pocketed to receive a centering device,said side members being apertured for the passage of a member to supporta coupler, upon failure of either the centering device or the carryiron.

3. A device of the class described, comprising a striking plate andcarry iron formed integral, a support for a centering device connectedto the carry iron and an emergency carry iron for use on removal of thecentering device.

t. A device of the class described, comprising a striking plateincluding depending side members, a carry iron formed in tegral withsaid side members, said carry iron being formed to constitute part of agravity centering device, and an emergency carry iron for use uponfailure of the centering device or normal carry iron formed to extendbetween the depending side members of the striking plate and to besupported therefrom.

5. A device of the class described, comprising a striking plateincluding depending side members, a carry iron formed integral with saidside members, saidcarry iron being formed to constitute part of agravity centering device and said side-members being formed for thesupporting engagement of an emergency carry iron.

6. A device of the class described, comprising a striking plate, andcarry iron 9 formed integral, supporting means for a gravity centeringdevice connected to the carry iron portion of the integral structure.said integral structure being formed to receive and support an emergencycarry iron in the event of failure of the gravity centering device, ofthe supporting means therefor or of the carry iron portion of thestructure.

In WitnessWhereof, I have hereunto set my hand. i

KARL F. NYsTRoM.

